It Begins With This
by Sonata Rapp
Summary: PreRENT. Tells everything that happened leading up to RENT. Like Mark moving into the loft, Roger meeting April and Benny dating Mimi. April is now dead and Roger's going through withdrawal
1. Chapter 1

It Begins With This

A/N: This story is going to be kind of long. I want it to cover everything that happens before RENT. Stuff like when Mark first moves into the loft, when Roger first meets April, and how Benny dated Mimi and Alison. It should be as interesting for me to write as it is for you to read. Oh and some of this is authored by my friend Hayden. Enjoy! As always none of these wonderful bohemians belong to me. So thank you Jonathan Larson.

Chapter 1

It was a moderately warm April afternoon and a young man was napping on the couch of a dilapidated and cluttered loft. He was about nineteen, with short blond curls and deep green eyes. Suddenly the door to the loft opened and a second young man entered.

"You still asleep Roger?" he called as he came in. There was no response from the couch, so the young man tried again. "I got pizza Roger." he called in a singsong voice.

That initiated a reaction. The blond called Roger sat up and yawned. "You say something about pizza Collins?" he asked.

Collins rolled his eyes. "I knew that would get your attention. It's on the counter by the way." Roger jumped up and went into the kitchen. "Benny around?" Collins asked as Roger tore into the pizza.

"Should be in his room." Roger said with his mouth full. Collins shook his head at his friend's manners and went and knocked on a closed bedroom door. "Benny we got food." he called and then joined Roger in the kitchen.

Minutes later a second black young man came into the room. "Hey Collins." he greeted. Then he turned to Roger. "It's about time you got up. You know you could go out and get a job. The rent's due soon."

Roger shrugged. "Don't worry about it Benny old boy. The band's got a gig tonight and the pay should cover my part of the rent." he said going for a fourth slice of pizza. Then he looked at the clock. "Oh shit!" he exclaimed I'm supposed to be at Drew's house in like five minutes to rehearse."

"Roger you are perpetually late." Collins said. "I'm sure they're not expecting you for at least another half hour."

Benny laughed and Roger ignored him as he raced around the room trying to get his things together. Once he had gotten ready (this consisted of him throwing on his shoes and jacket and running his hands through his short hair) he grabbed another slice of pizza and his guitar, then left the loft.

This time it was Benny who shook his head. "That boy is always unprepared." he commented.

Collins smiled. "True." he agreed. "But you have to admit he does liven things up around here."

"When he's not sleeping or eating you mean." Benny said back and helped himself to the remaining slice of pizza.

Mark Cohen was running through the halls of Brown University. He was late, again, for a meeting with his guidance counselor. He slid to a stop outside of the office, almost colliding with a young woman who was coming out.

"Sorry." he said quickly. Then he adjusted his clothes and knocked on the door.

"Come in." called a voice from within the office. Mark entered slowly with a feeling of dread. These meetings were never good. It was especially bad that his counselor, Mr. James, was close friends with his father and reported everything that was said.

"Ah Mr. Cohen." Mr. James said now as Mark came in. "So good of you to show up."

"I'm sorry Mr. James." huffed Mark, he was still a little out of breath. " I was studying and I lost track of time."

"Indeed?" Mr. James said skeptically. "That's surprising considering your grades for this quarter. Have a seat."

The feeling of dread increased as Mark obeyed and took a seat. He had been neglecting his studies lately. "Are they really that bad?" he asked.

"I wouldn't say bad exactly. More like disappointing. You barely passed everything with low B's and C's. That is, everything but your Film and Photography class, which you got an A in." Mr. James said.

Mark breathed an inward sigh of relief. At least he hadn't failed anything. Then he would have been in real trouble with his father. "I'm trying Mr. James." he said simply.

"Well, I'm just concerned that you are being distracted by this filming. Maybe you should drop that class at the end of the semester." the counselor said.

"Oh no that won't be necessary. I'll get my grades up." Mark promised.

"I expect to see a drastic change in the next few weeks or I'll have to notify your father about this." Mr. James warned.

Mark assured him that that wouldn't be necessary and then left the office. He was sick of this stupid school and all it's important classes. He wouldn't even be going there if it weren't for his father being an alumnus and paying for it. At least he had Spring Break to look forward to. He was going to see his best friend Roger in New York for the week. They hadn't see each other since the summer after high school graduation.

Emboldened by this thought Mark hurried back to his dorm to finish his packing. He was leaving the next morning and he wanted to be gone as soon as possible. When he got into his room the phone was ringing.

"Hello?" he answered it.

"Hello Marcus." said his father. Mark groaned inwardly. He hated these conversations with his father.

"Hi Dad." he said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Marcus. I heard you had a meeting with Mr. James today. How did it go?"

_I'm fine Dad, thanks for asking. _Mark thought to himself. Aloud he said, "It was fine. He just wanted to discuss class choices for next semester." Technically it wasn't really a lie.

"That's fine then." Dr. Cohen said. "Are you leaving for Roger's place tonight?"

"No, tomorrow morning. I should be home the week after next to see you and Mom." Mark said trying to end this conversation quickly.

"Alright Marcus. I'll see you then." and his father hung up. Mark sighed then continued his packing. He wasn't quite sure he could deal with his father for a whole week.

Roger was just finishing his gig. The crowd was hype and the groupies were all staring at him. He was truly in his element. As he played the final chords of the song he caught the eye of a young girl with red hair. She was staring at him intently and feeling the music.

_She's cute_, Roger thought and finished the song with a bang.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Roger woke up early that next morning with a feeling of excitement that he couldn't understand. Then he remembered. _Mark's coming today!_ He hadn't seen his best friend in almost a year. He heard movement outside his bedroom door and decided he'd better get up and get dressed. When he came out of his room, Benny was in the kitchen making coffee. He looked up as Roger came in.

"Whoa." Benny said looking at his watch. "You're up before noon. What's going on, did hell freeze over?"

Roger smirked at Benny and said, "No my friend Mark is coming today and I'm excited."

"Oh yeah that's right. You know you should try to get him to move in with us. We could use the extra person to help pay the rent." Benny said.

"Nah, Mark's a college boy. He's too smart to end up in this place."

"Oh and what am I, an idiot?" Collins asked as he came out of his room.

Roger shot an apologetic look at him. "No it's just you're one of us Collins. You're broke like we are. But Mark," he stopped, trying to phrase it right. "Well Mark is most likely broke too, but his family's loaded. They would never let their precious little Marky come live here."

Collins and Benny laughed at that and got ready to go to their jobs. Roger looked around the loft and decided that it was as clean as it was going to get. After his roommates had left, he opened the window and walked onto the fire escape. Then there was a shout from the street below.

"Roger! Hey Rog!" Roger looked down and saw Mark standing on the street waving at him. "How the heck do I get up there?" Mark called.

"Hold on, I'll come down." Roger called back. He climbed back through the window and went out the front door. Mark was sitting on the steps when he got outside.

"Well if it isn't my collegiate best friend." Roger said. "It's about time you graced us bums with your royal presence."

Mark jumped up and hugged Roger. "I missed you, you bum." he said. Then he pulled back. "How do you know what collegiate means?"

Roger just rolled his eyes and said, "Come on genius. Let's get your stuff upstairs before someone steals it." Mark had two bags, and together the two friends got them up the stairs. They were almost on their floor when Roger bumped into a short Hispanic young woman who was on her way down the stairs.

"Oh sorry." Roger said without really looking at her.

"That's alright." she said back and kept moving, although Mark saw her turn around and look at Roger's butt as he continued up the stairs.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"No idea." Roger said. "I'm really starting to regret the fact that we live on the top floor." he told Mark once they'd reached the loft's door and Roger slid it open.

Mark laughed and followed Roger inside. He looked around. "Jeez Roger, clean much?" he asked.

Roger shrugged. "Not really. It seems like a waste of time; with three people living here it's always going to be messy."

"So are your roommates here?" Mark wanted to know.

"No they both have jobs and are at work. But you'll meet them later tonight." Roger responded. He showed Mark where to put his stuff and then they sat down on the couch. "So." Roger began. "Tell me all about college life."

Mimi Marquez was on her way to meet her best friend Angel when she bumped into him. The guy who lived directly above her. Roger was so cute and he didn't even know her name. He had been with another guy and they had been heading up to the top floor loft where Roger lived with two other guys. More than anything, she wanted to go up to him and introduce herself. But she guessed she'd just have to be content with catching glimpses of him on the stairs.

Mimi met Angel at the Life Café only a little late. But Angel still felt the need to point it out.

"You're late chica." he said when Mimi came in and sat down at the table.

"I know Angel, but I saw him again today." Mimi said back.

Angel raised one of his perfectly arched eyebrows. "Oh so the elusive Roger appeared. What happened?"

Mimi sighed. "I just bumped into him on the stairs. He was with this other blond guy."

"Really?" Angel said interestedly. "Was this other guy cute?"

"He was okay, but nothing compared to Roger." Mimi told him. "You could go check him out for yourself if you want. He had luggage so I think he's staying with Roger for a while."

Angel shrugged. "Blonds aren't really my type." he said. "Although I have to admit, that Roger is one yummy piece of work."

Mimi giggled. "He's got a nice butt too." she said. The two friends laughed at that for a while. Then Mimi looked at the clock that was on the wall of the café. It was just after two o'clock. "I should get to work." she said.

"You work too hard Mimi chica." Angel told his friend. "Ordinary waitress by day and sexy stripper by night. How do you keep up with it all?"

Mimi laughed again. "I have you to keep me sane girl." she kissed Angel on the cheek and left the café.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

On his way home from work Benny stopped off at the store to get some food. He was on the cereal aisle getting the Captain Crunch that was the only cereal Roger and Collins ate, when he saw her.

Mimi was shopping for something quick she could eat before going to the Cat Scratch club where she worked her second job. She had decided that a bowl of cereal would be the best thing and the most affordable right now when she bumped into Benny.

"Oh excuse me." she said quickly. "I've just been bumping into people all day."

Benny smiled at the young woman. "It's okay. Hey, haven't I seen you before?" he asked then.

"I get that a lot." Mimi replied.

Benny frowned. "No, seriously. Don't you live in the building on Avenue B?"

Mimi nodded. "Yeah I do. I remember you now. You live on the top floor with those other guys right?" _Finally, _she thought_, a connection to Roger._

"Yeah that's me. My name is Benny." Benny replied. "I don't mean to be presumptuous or anything, but if we live in the same building, shouldn't we get to know each other? Would you like to go to lunch with me sometime?" he asked.

Mimi considered it. _If I go out with him eventually I'll be introduced to Roger. _"That would be nice. But right now I'm running late for work. Stop by my place sometime and we'll talk. I live right below you guys; I'm Mimi by the way." She got her cereal and left.

Benny stared after her. Then he grinned, he couldn't wait to boast to Roger that he had a date. Finally there was a woman who knew who Roger was and didn't want him.

Collins came walking through the loft's front door. _Every time I come in this place there's a blond guy sitting on the couch, _he thought. This one looked a lot cleaner than Roger. He had glasses and blue eyes and he was reading a book.

"Hey," Collins said closing the door behind him. "You must be Mark."

Mark looked up from his book. "Yeah that's me. You must be Collins." he got up to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah you too. I've always wanted to ask you a question." Collins said back. "How in the heck did you put up with being around Roger for all those years? He's only been here for a year and I want to strangle him half the time."

Mark laughed. "That's usually the general consensus of those who know Roger. But after a while he grows on you."

"I wish he'd grow into a real job." Collins muttered. He and Mark were laughing when Roger came out of his room.

"You guys talking about me?" he wanted to know.

Mark opened his book again. "Not everything revolves around you Rog." he commented.

"I know that." Roger said sarcastically. "I just know how you both love to insult me. You two should hit it off pretty well." He looked around then. "Baldy not here yet?"

"Not yet, although I wish he'd hurry up because he went to get food." Collins said. He and Mark laughed again at Roger's horrified expression.

"But I'm _hungry._" he whined.

Mark turned a page of his book. "Well maybe if you got a job, you could go and buy your own food." he said without looking up.

"And maybe you can go eat at your own house and take your comments with you." Roger retorted.

Mark grinned. "You know you love me."

Just then the door slid open and Benny came in carrying two grocery bags. "Hey you guys." he greeted. He turned to Mark. "Hey you must be Mark. I'm Benny."

Roger jumped up and took the bags from him. "It's about time you got here Baldy. What took you so long? We all know you weren't out meeting women."

Benny grinned at him. "_Au contraire _my partially educated friend. I did meet a young woman. She was at the store and she lives in this building actually. We have a pending lunch date."

Roger stopped rooting through the bags of groceries. "Who is she and is she clinically insane?" he asked.

"That little Hispanic girl who lives downstairs. Her name's Mimi."

"Oh we bumped into her this morning. Remember Roger?" Mark said. "Good job Benny, she was cute."

"Why would she go out with you when she knows I live here?" Roger wanted to know. No one responded to that so he continued to dig around in the bags. "Man Benny, everything in here needs to be cooked except for the cereal."

Mark got up then. "I'll cook dinner, since you guys are letting me stay here. Plus it'll get Rog to stop whining for a while."

"I'll help." Collins offered. Roger shrugged and grabbed his guitar and headed for the roof and Benny went into his room.

"So," Collins began. "Roger says you're a college boy."

Mark nodded. "Unfortunately. My dad bought my way into Brown." he said. "I could've got in on my own, but I didn't really want to."

"Why not? Brown's a excellent school."

"I know, but I'm not really into the whole WASP-ish way of life you know. Plus I'm Jewish so I shouldn't even be in that scene. But my dad says sometimes you have to ignore things like religion and your beliefs to be successful. I can't stand my father most of the time."

Collins laughed. "So what _do_ you like to do?"

"I'm a filmmaker. I just got my grades for this quarter before I left school. I got low B's and C's in every thing but Film and Photography, which I got an A in." Mark told him.

"Well I'd still be proud if I were your dad. I consider myself something of a computer geek anarchist. I start at MIT in a month." Collins said.

"That's cool." Mark said. They continued to talk about their likes and dislikes as they fixed dinner.

Roger was sitting on the roof strumming his guitar and surveying the street below. Then he saw a flash of red hair. _That's that girl from the club, _he thought. He climbed down the fire escape and landed in front of her as she was passing the building.

"Hi." he greeted her. "I'm Roger."

She smiled. "I know. I watch you play at CBGB all the time. You're really good."

"Thanks." Roger said. "So I haven't seen you around here before. I know everyone who lives on this street."

She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you don't know me because I don't live on this street." she said with a grin. "And maybe I don't talk to random strangers when I'm running late for work."

"Technically I'm not a stranger. I mean you know my name and you've seen me before." Roger protested.

The redheaded girl smiled. "And they say the pretty ones have no brains." she retorted. "Well gotta go. Those drinks at Joe's aren't going to serve themselves." and with that she walked away. "It's April by the way." she called over her shoulder.

Roger grinned to himself she was feisty and he loved it. He had to see her again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Mimi was just getting off work at the Cat Scratch Club and heading over to Angel's house when she bumped into yet another person. It was a young woman.

"Pardon me." she said.

"It was really my fault." Mimi said back. "I wasn't paying attention." She noticed the woman was looking kind of lost. "Do you need some directions?"

"Oh yes." the woman said flushing. "Um you wouldn't happen to know Benjamin Coffin would you? I think he lives in a building on this street."

Mimi thought about it for a minute. She wasn't sure what Benny's last name was, but he did live on this street. "Yeah, he lives in that one right there." she said pointing. "His place is on the top floor. You can't miss it."

"Thank you so much…"

"Mimi."

The woman smiled. "Thank you Mimi. I'm Alison by the way."

Mimi shook her hand and then continued toward Angel's house. It was late when she got there but she knew Angel would still be up. Sure enough when she knocked on the door, her friend answered it in a few seconds.

"Hey Chica. You all done taking off your clothes in front of old men for minimum wage?" Angel greeted her.

Mimi laughed. "Yes I'm done. Girl have I got news for you."

Angel smoothed a stray hair from her wig away from her face and said. "Oh well come in then and do tell."

Mimi obeyed and told Angel all about her run in with Benny at the store. "So if I go out with Benny, I'm bound to meet Roger eventually. I mean guys love showing off their girlfriends to their male friends. Right?" she finished.

"Usually they do. Unless he has another girlfriend, a main girlfriend and you're just a side dish. Then he might not want to show you off. You say there was a woman looking for him?" Angel replied.

"Yeah but she looked way to clean to be dating Benny. She didn't even know where he lived." Mimi protested.

"Well no offence honey, but if I lived in a dump like that I wouldn't want anyone to know either. It's not like it's something to brag about."

Mimi rolled her eyes. "I really could care less if he has a girlfriend. I don't want him, it's Roger I'm after."

"Tisk tisk chica. That's so shallow of you." Angel admonished with a grin.

"Well if you feel so bad about it, why don't you go out with him? You're as pretty as any girl and he probably wouldn't even know the difference." Mimi said.

"No that wouldn't do. He'd be bound to notice something was different about me. One big something really. Besides I'm waiting for the perfect man. I know he's out there somewhere and I intend to find him." Mimi yawned and Angel continued. "You look dead tired. Stay here tonight, you are not walking back to that god-awful building of yours alone."

Mimi agreed that that was a good idea.

Roger woke up the next morning to the phone ringing. "Hello?" he answered sleepily.

"Yes, is this Roger?"

"Yeah. Who's this?" Roger asked back.

"This is Marcus's father." was the reply.

That perked him right up. "Oh hello Mr. Cohen." Roger said. "It's good to hear from you. I hope you and Mrs. Cohen are doing okay."

"Yes we're fine. Is Marcus there by any chance?" Mr. Cohen asked.

Roger looked around the loft. Mark was sitting on the couch shaking his head fervently. "Um no sir he's not. He went to the library with one of my roommate's who's a tutor. I'm sure he'll be back soon." he lied.

"That's fine then. Please tell him I called."

"Sure thing um sir." Roger said back and hung up the phone. Then he turned to Mark. "Dude, your dad hasn't lightened up yet?" he wanted to know.

Mark rolled his eyes. "No, that's why I'm dreading going over there next week. He's just going to be riding my ass about school the whole time."

"Mark, if you hate it so much just drop out. It's your life, not his. You should do what you want. I did." Roger advised.

"And look how great he turned out." Collins remarked coming out of his room. "He's got no job, no money, and no girlfriend. How wonderful to be Roger."

"Fuck you Collins." Roger said good naturedly. "I'll have you know that I have another gig tonight. So therefore I will have money."

"Money and unprotected sex all around." Collins retorted. "Gee Rog, you're just the best role model."

Mark laughed. "Hey Collins go easy on him." he said.

"Yeah listen to Mark." Roger concurred. "So you guys want to go out for lunch today? I know this place we can go." he asked.

"Can't." Collins said. "I've got tutoring to do today. Oh and Benny said that he got us an extension on the rent, but only for a week."

Roger nodded. "Okay. I'll put the money from tonight's gig towards it. That should be enough."

Collins shrugged and then got his stuff to go. "I'll see you guys a little later."

Mark spent the time up until lunch reading and Roger was trying to write a new song. He was playing Musetta's Waltz over and over again.

"Roger can you please learn a new song?" Mark asked finally. "Where did you get that from anyway?"

"Collins took me to see this opera thing and this song was in it. I can never get that last part right though." Roger responded.

"Okay three questions." Mark said. "One, _you _went to go see an opera? Two, which one? And three, if you can't get it right, why keep playing?"

Roger thought about it for a minute then said, "Yes Collins said I needed to get cultured. It was La Boheme or something like that. And I liked that song and I can remember most of it."

Mark just rolled his eyes at that. About an hour later they walked into Joe's Pub. They got a table and soon Roger grinned as he saw April come over.

"Hi April." he said.

"Hello Roger. Stalking me at work now are we? And who's your friend?" April said back.

"This is my best friend Mark Cohen. And who said I'm here to see you? It's lunch time and I'm hungry."

April ignored him for a minute. "Hi Mark. I'm April Ericsson."

"Hi April." Mark said. "It's nice to meet you. So how do you know Roger?"

"I watch him perform sometimes and now he's stalking me."

"Again," Roger said. "not stalking. I'm trying to get something to eat. So why don't you take our orders already?"

April smirked at him and did as he said. When she left to put their orders in, Mark turned to Roger. "Well she seems to like you." he remarked sarcastically.

"Oh she does." Roger assured him. "I know she does. She's just testing the water right now, making sure I'm interested in her."

"Right." Mark said. Then he smiled at the brunette with pink streaks in her hair that brought their drinks. "What is it with all the crazy looking people around here?" he asked.

"She seemed like your type Mark. You should go get her number. Maybe she'll do your hair for you." Roger said with a grin.

"Oh shut up."

"No seriously, you two could have a long epic romance or something. It would be cute. Oh and then you could bring her to meet your dad. He'd just love her." Roger continued.

Mark refused to dignify that with a response.

**A/N: **Any guesses as to who the brunette waitress is? It's kinda obvious, I know.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Benny met Mimi around two for their lunch date at the Life Café. He really didn't like it that much, but either Roger or Collins were always dragging him down there for coffee. Mimi had already gotten there and was waiting for him with her head on the table.

"Um hi Mimi." he greeted uncertainly. "You okay?"

Mimi looked up and smiled. "I'm fine. I just got off work late last night and I spent the night with my best friend and we stayed up even later talking."

"Oh, where do you work?" Benny wanted to know.

Mimi hesitated a moment then said, "The Cat Scratch Club."

"Whoa." Benny said. "You look way too young to be working at a strip club. I mean you're what, twenty?"

"Actually I'm eighteen." Mimi said. "Is that a problem?"

"Not really." he replied. "It's just surprising is all."

Mimi smiled at him again. "So Benny tell me about yourself. What goes on up there on the top floor of our building?" The waiter came to take their orders then.

Benny shrugged. "It's just me and my roommates, Collins and Roger. Collins and I have jobs and Roger's pretty much a bum musician, but we like him anyway."

"Roger's the blond right?" Mimi asked in what she hoped was an uninterested tone.

"That's right." Benny was saying. "Anyway I hope to move away from there soon."

"It's not so bad living there." Mimi said shrugging. "It's fun sometimes and the people are interesting."

Benny rolled his eyes. "Yeah they're okay sometimes. But if I can get out, I will."

Mimi shrugged. "So there was a very high class looking woman looking for you last night. Want to tell me who she was?"

"Why? Are you jealous?" Benny teased.

"No." Mimi replied giggling. "I was just wondering why she would be coming to our dump of a building to look for you."

"She's something of a business associate." Benny explained. "I work for her father and together we're cooking up a big idea."

"Sounds interesting." Mimi said with a smile.

What about you?" Benny said. "Tell me something about you."

"My family is from Panama." Mimi told him. "I was born there, but we moved to the Bronx when I was a little baby."

"We?" Benny asked.

"My mama and papi and my six brothers and sisters." she explained. "I left home rather early because it was just too stuffy there. So I came here and got a job at the Cat Scratch Club. I'm also a waitress."

Their food arrived a minute later and they continued to talk and eat. Mimi found that she enjoyed being with Benny more than she thought she would have and they made plans to get together again.

Meanwhile Mark and Roger were enjoying their lunch at Joe's Pub. April came over and sat with them after a while.

"Say April?" Roger asked at one point. "What are you doing tonight?"

"There's this band I like that's playing. I never miss any of their performances, so that's where I'll be." she said.

"What a coincidence." Roger said with a smile. "_My _band is playing tonight. You wouldn't be going to see us by any chance would you?"

"Maybe." April replied. Then she looked out the window. "Sorry boys, but I need to cut this short. It was nice to meet you Mark." she got up and headed outside. Roger and Mark watched her look around and then walk up to a man with black hair.

"Ooh maybe that's her boyfriend." Mark taunted.

"Nah." Roger said confidently. "He's not her type."

"Oh really? And you are?" Mark wanted to know.

"Of course I am." his friend said back. "And speaking of types, here comes your perfect match."

Mark looked up and saw the waitress from earlier coming over. "Here's your check." she said to them.

"Thanks." Roger said. "Love your hair by the way. It's very Technicolor."

The waitress smirked at Roger. "Thanks." she said dryly.

"Ignore him." Mark advised her. "He's just upset because he can't get the girl he likes." he handed her the money for the food she walked away with a smile. Mark and Roger got up and left the pub then.

"So you are coming to see my show tonight, aren't you?" Roger asked Mark.

"Duh. What else would I do? It's not like I know where anything is around here. Plus I haven't seen you perform since high school. You know I wouldn't miss it." he responded.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Benny had ended his lunch date with Mimi by inviting her to come with him to see Roger's show that night. Mimi accepted. More because she wanted to see Roger than she wanted to be with Benny. They agreed to meet around seven at Benny's and then go down to the club for the show which started at eight.

Roger had left for Drew's house, where the band was going to rehearse until it was time for the show, right after he and Mark had returned from lunch. So Mark and Collins were the only ones around when Benny was frantically trying to get ready.

"Does this look alright?" he asked them after changing his clothes for the third time.

"Benny, it doesn't matter." Collins said in a bored voice. "It's just CBGB's and Roger's playing. Chances are he's just going to be wearing whatever he had on earlier."

"Yeah well I don't like to compare my self with Roger that often. Plus Roger doesn't have a date to impress." Benny retorted.

"That may not be true." Mark said. "Roger's trying to impress this girl that he swears is going to fall in love with him."

"Well that still doesn't make a difference in Roger's case. His idea of dressing up is putting on a clean shirt and brushing his hair." Benny replied and then went back into his room to change again. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Mark went to open it and found Mimi on the other side.

"Hey you must be Mimi." he said.

"Yeah that's me. Is Benny ready?" Mimi replied.

"Not exactly." Mark told her. "But you can come in and wait for him. I'm Mark by the way, and that's Collins over there."

"It's nice to meet you Mark." she said and came in and sat down. "I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new?"

"I don't really live here. Roger's my best friend and I'm visiting him for the week." Mark told her.

"Oh that's nice." Mimi replied. "Roger wouldn't happen to be here would he?" she asked innocently.

"No he's rehearsing for the show." Collins answered her. He looked up as Benny's door opened. "Ah there's Benny, now we can go."

Benny came over and kissed Mimi on the cheek and the four of them left for the club.

Roger and his band mates had just finished setting up for the show and he was at the bar getting a drink.

"Hi Rog." a female voice said from behind him. He turned and found April standing there grinning at him.

"April, you came." he replied happily. "I knew you liked me."

"Well duh." she said. "Who wouldn't like you? I mean you're so cute and educated, and of course you'll be a millionaire someday."

Roger narrowed his green eyes at her. "You're making fun of me aren't you?" he asked suspiciously.

April laughed. "Now why would I do that?"

Roger smirked at her and surveyed the club. He caught sight of a familiar pink streaked head of hair. "Who is that freak and what is she doing here?" he asked April.

She followed his gaze and then smacked him on the arm when she saw who he was talking about. "That's my friend Maureen." she said. "And she's not a freak Roger. She's just very unique."

"Right unique." Roger replied. "That's all well and good but what's the deal with her hair?"

"She used to have regular auburn highlights, but then our boss at Joe's told her that he was running a 'sophisticated' establishment, and that she was pushing the limit of acceptable work presence with her hair color. Then she found out that he was short staffed and couldn't afford to fire her. So she put the streaks in to see how far she could push him. Last week they were sky blue." April explained.

Roger shook his head. Then he saw Mark, Collins, Benny and a cute girl enter the club. "Come on." he said to April. "I want you to meet the rest of my friends." He towed her over to where the others were standing and began the introductions. "You remember Mark from earlier and this is Collins and Benny, my roommates." Then he looked at Mimi. "And I haven't met this lovely lady yet."

Mimi smiled demurely at him. "Hi I'm Mimi Marquez. I live right below you guys."

Benny wrapped an affectionate arm around her. "This is the girl I was telling you about Roger." he said smugly. "The one I had the date with."

"It's great to meet you Mimi." Roger said. "If you haven't already gathered, I'm Roger Davis. And this is my girlfriend April."

Every one, including April, shot Roger quizzical looks. "Well I'm going for a drink." Collins said and everyone followed him to the bar.

"So I'm your girlfriend now am I?" April asked shrewdly. "Funny how I don't remember you asking me."

Roger smiled at her. "April, I like you a lot. Would you do me the honor of becoming the lady in my life?"

April just looked at him for a minute. "What?" Roger wanted to know.

"I'm sorry but that was just so corny Roger. I'm going to have to work with you on that one." she replied and walked away.

"Wait, so is that a yes?" Roger called after her. "April, you can't just leave me hanging here!"

Mark was watching all this from the bar with an amused smile. "Well that went well." he remarked to Collins.

"It usually does with Roger. He's got that stuff that girls want."

"Stuff that girls want?" a female voice asked incredulously. "Are you serious? That moron?"

Mark turned and saw the girl with the pink streaked hair from Joe's Pub standing behind him. "Um, what?" he asked, confused.

"You were talking about Roger right? Saying that he has the stuff that girls want?"

"Yes…" Mark replied hesitantly.

"Well I think that's crap." the girl said. "He's an ass. I'm mean he's rude and stupid. He's cute, I'll give him that much. But that doesn't override the other stuff."

"Um not to be rude or anything but who are you?" Mark asked.

"I'm Maureen Johnson." she replied and then got right back to her point. "April's one of my closest friends and I hate to see her falling for that moron. Because he's a moron if there ever was one."

"Yes, you said that already." Collins chimed in. "If we're doing introductions I'm Collins and the little blond boy who's probably going to berate you for insulting his best friend is Mark Cohen. I'm going over there now. See you two later." With that Collins got up and went to sit next to the stage.

"That fop is your best friend?" Maureen wanted to know. Before Mark could respond she continued. "That's amazing. You seem so much more intelligent than Roger and you're politer too."

"Um thanks?" Mark guessed weakly. "So if you hate Roger so much why are you here tonight?"

Maureen smiled at him. " Well first off all, I never said I hated him. As a female, I have to admire him because he is a beautiful specimen of a man. Secondly, I'm here to support April. She thought it would seem desperate and clingy to show up here by herself to see Roger. So I came with her. Although she is probably going to be ignoring me the whole time."

Mark nodded. "That's me too. This isn't really my scene, I'm just here to support Roger." he looked at Maureen. "Can I ask you a question?" he wanted to know. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

She nodded. "Go ahead."

"Who was that man that April was talking to outside of the Pub this afternoon? It seemed like she was buying something from him."

Maureen glanced at him. "I knew you were the smart one." she remarked. "You're right, she was buying something. I'll just leave it at that." she walked away as Roger and the band began to play.

Mark moved closer to the stage hoping that his friend knew what he was getting himself into.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The concert ended at about midnight and Mark was wiped out from all the crazy screaming that had come not only from the band's groupies, but from the band itself.

"That's definitely not my kind of music." a voice said in Mark's ear.

He turned around and found himself face to face with Collins. "Mine either." Mark replied. "Roger's gotten louder since we graduated and it looks like his appeal to women has grown as well." he jerked his head in the direction of the fifty or so women who were clustered around the stage watching Roger wipe his face with a towel.

Collins smirked. "Yeah well, that's Roger for you. He wipes his face, girls swoon. He sings a note, girls swoon. He takes a shit, girls swoon."

"I get the picture thanks." Mark said with a smile. "Can we please get out of here now?"

"Yeah." Collins replied. He looked around. "I don't think Benny will be joining us anytime soon, and Roger definitely won't, so we should just go."

The two of them walked toward the exit. Maureen caught Mark's eye as they left, she waved at him and pointed behind her. Mark turned around and saw Roger tangled in April's arms, kissing her furiously. Maureen rolled her eyes and Mark smiled and shrugged. Then he and Collins walked out into the mild spring air.

When they arrived at the loft, Collins saw that the message light on the answering machine was blinking. "Hit that red button, would you Mark?"

Mark hit the button and then groaned as his mother's voice filled the room. "Mark honey it's mom. Honey, your grades came in the mail today and we were rather disappointed to see that you didn't make all A's this quarter. Your father wants to schedule a conference with your teachers and counselor to see what's going on with you. I know it's late now, and you're probably asleep, but I'm worried about you Marky. You know if something's wrong you can always talk to me about it."

"Oh God." Mark groaned. "My dad is going to murder me. He's going to yell at me and then he's going to kill me."

"Over a couple of B's?" Collins asked.

"Actually it was one A, three B's, and two C's over the course of this quarter." Mark corrected and flopped on the couch. "I'm so dead."

"I still don't think it's that bad really. I wish my students made grades like that." Collins replied with a yawn. "I'm going to bed."

"Early class tomorrow?" Mark asked him.

"Something like that." he sad in response and walked into his room. "I suggest you go to bed before Roger gets home. If he brings that girl back here then seeing you asleep on the couch on the couch might inspire him to move his activities to the bedroom."

"Hopefully." Mark called back. "I know from experience that not much deters Roger from his 'activities'."

Collins chuckled. "Good point."

Mark sighed and put his head in his hands. He had to tell his parents something about what had happened with hid grades this quarter. His father would be especially upset with him. The truth was that Mark had gotten tired of being at Brown. He gotten tired of college period, and was starting to envy Roger's carefree lifestyle. "Now I want to be like Roger, I must be losing my mind." Mark said out loud.

"First sign of insanity is talking to yourself." Roger said as he entered the loft.

"Why are you here?" Mark wanted to know. "I thought you'd stuck like glue to April now that she likes you."

"Nah." his best friend replied and sat on the couch beside him. "I decided to call it a night and come home and talk to my best friend."

"Oh I feel so loved." Mark said sarcastically.

"You should. So what's got you wishing you were me all of a sudden? Life not so grand in Marky land?" Roger asked.

"I'm not so sure right now. My grades got mailed to my house yesterday and my parents are not pleased."

"What, did you get a ninety-nine amongst your slew of usual hundreds?" Roger joked.

"More like three B's and two C's amongst the one low A, and the hundred I got." Mark told him. "And it's not like I can say that I deserve higher grades. Lately I just haven't been feeling the whole college experience."

"So drop out." Roger said with a laugh.

"I'm thinking about it." Mark replied seriously.

"Mark I was kidding. You can't drop out of school. You worked way too hard to get where you are."

"Brown was never my dream Roger, and lately it takes so much just for me to get out of the bed and go to class in the morning. The only class I got a hundred in was my Advanced Photography and Film class. My father is going to be livid." Mark said sadly.

"Do you think he's going to be pleased with you dropping out then?" Roger wanted to know.

"No, but if I decide to he can't stop me. All he can do is disown me, or cut me off."

"Then what will you do?"

"Maybe come live with you." Mark answered. "Would you let me?"

"Are you kidding? Of course you can live with me. The guys were jus t saying the other day that I should ask you to move in with us." Roger said. "Look man as much as I would love you to come and stay here, you seriously need to think before you make any major decisions. Sleep on it a while and then come back to it."

"My mom wants me to call her tomorrow and tell her what's wrong. Because since my grades went down, there's got to be something wrong with me." Mark told Roger.

"Good old Mrs. Cohen." he replied.

"Yeah well I'm going to tell her whatever I decide tomorrow. And if they get mad then let them be mad."

"Okay then. As long as you know what you're doing." Roger said and got up. "I'm in serious need of sleep right now, so I'll see you in the morning." he walked toward his bedroom, then turned around. "Hey what did you think about the show?"

"Oh it was great." Mark lied. "You've really gotten a lot better since high school."

"Liar." Roger said with a laugh. "I know we suck. You'd better work on your lying skills before you talk to your dad. Or else he'll eat you alive."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Good night Rog." He sighed as his friend closed his bedroom door. Roger was definitely right about one thing. He had some serious thinking to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Mimi awoke that morning to find herself lying in her bed beside Benny. She groaned and tried to recall the events of the night before. She remembered going to the club with Benny and his friends and being so completely drunk and blown away by how hot Roger had looked on stage, even if his band sucked. Then Benny had pulled her into a corner and they had kissed for a while before Mimi had led him back to her apartment.

"Shit." she muttered her head was pounding from all the alcohol she had consumed that night. Plus she had to work a double shift at the diner and go to work at the Cat Scratch Club after that.

Still cursing her stupidity, she dragged herself out of the bed being careful not to disturb the sleeping Benny. Her first stop was to the bathroom. She groaned as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her skin was pale and waxen and her hair was a wild curly mess. There was only one person who could help her at a time like this and Mimi didn't want her to see Benny in her bed.

So she popped two aspirin, called Angel, and walked back into her bedroom. "Benny." she said and shook him. "Benny you've got to get up."

He cracked open an eyelid and looked at her. "Huh?"

"You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here." Mimi urged.

Benny looked around and finally realized where he was. "Good morning." he said with a smug smile.

Mimi smirked back. "Um yeah Buenos Dias and all that. You've got to get up and out. Like right now."

"Why?" he asked confused. "I mean we had a great time last night, right?"

"Oh yeah. It's just that my sister is getting ready to come over and she cannot see you here. She would so totally flip out. So if you could just get dressed and go upstairs, I'd be so grateful and I'll call you later." Mimi explained, only partially lying.

"Alright." Benny agreed. In less than fifteen minutes Mimi had hurried him out the door and up the stairs. Then she made up the bed and took a shower. When she came out, wrapped in a towel, Angel was sitting on the bed with a smirk on her face.

"Did you have a nice night?" she said sweetly. Too sweetly.

"Uh it was okay. Roger's band sucked, but he looked really hot on stage." Mimi replied nervously.

"So what did you do after the show? Because it wasn't call your best friend to dish about what had happened." Angel prodded.

Mimi opened her mouth to lie, but she knew that Angel would see right through it. So she told the truth about getting drunk and sleeping with Benny. "And to top it all off, I have to work a double shift at the diner and then go to the Cat Scratch Club, _and_ my hair looks a mess." she finished.

Angel took pity on her friend. "Lead the way to the hair products." she said with a smile.

Mark woke up to find a large blond head in his face. "Aggh!" he screamed. "What Roger?"

"You need to get up because your father is on the phone and he wants to talk to you." Roger said.

"Already?" Mark groaned. "I'm going to be murdered over the phone."

"I can tell him you're not here if you're not ready to deal with this." Roger offered.

"No. I have to get it over with. I know what I have to do." Mark got up and picked up the phone. "Hello?" he said softly.

"Marcus it is about time. We called you last night and you didn't answer. Where were you?"

Mark sighed. "Does it really matter Dad? We both know what you really called about. So why not just get to the point?"

He heard his father suck in a breath, surprised at Mark's boldness. "Fine then." the elder Mr. Cohen said. "Your grades. They are absolutely unacceptable. You made a C in Calculus _and_ Social Issues. Not to mention your B in English. I'm to mad to even continue."

"Good, so am I." Mark replied. "I'm tired of nothing I want to do ever being good enough for you. So I'm done."

"What do you mean done?" Mr. Cohen demanded. "I've invested far too much time and money into your education for you to quit now. You don't see Cindy trying to quit Stanford do you?"

"_I'm done _Dad." Mark repeated. "I don't care what Cindy does or doesn't do. The only reason _you _care is because she's going pre-med and following in your footsteps. But you don't support my filming and you probably never will. So I quit. As of two weeks from now, I'm officially dropping out of Brown." His dad spluttered angrily but Mark had heard enough and he hung up the phone.

He stood there breathing heavily as Roger stared at him. "Holy shit Mark." he said. "In all the years I've known you, you've never stood up to your dad like that. That was incredible."

Mark grinned weakly. "Yeah, but I feel like I'm going to throw up." he replied. "But I'm free now. Free to do whatever the hell I want."

"Are you sure?" Roger wanted to know. "Your father won't like call the campus security and have you arrested when you go to get your stuff?"

"No, because he'll be hoping that I was just saying all that stuff because I was upset and that I'll get over it and go back to school." Mark answered. Then the phone rang again and he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Mark sweetie why did you set your father off like that?" came Mrs. Cohen's worried voice. "He's yelling about you saying you were dropping out of school."

"I am Mom." Mark said. "Really, I'm tired of Brown and trying to live up to Dad's expectations."

"He just wants you to be happy honey."

"He wants me to be him Mom. And that's not what I want." Mark said back.

"But honey," his mother reasoned. "Where will you go? What will you do?"

"First I'm going back to Brown to get my stuff; and then I'm moving in with Roger." He heard his mother take in a sharp breath. "It's already been decided Mom. I'll call you later okay? I've got some stuff to work out."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After Mimi's hair crisis was straightened out, she rushed out the door to her job at the diner. She had just thrown on her apron and got behind the counter when her first customer walked up. It was Mark, looking a little worse for wear.

"Hi. You're Mark right?" Mimi greeted him.

"Yeah." he said. "Hey Mimi. You planning on sending Benny home sometime soon?"

"He left my place a while ago actually." she responded. "So if he's not at you guys' place then I don't know where he is. What can I get you?"

Mark sighed. "Something strong." he replied. "I need something to get me out this daze that I'm in.."

"I've got just the thing." Mimi told him. "Hey Bill, I need one power booster with two shots!" she called back to the guy working the drink machines.

Ten minutes later Mark was walking out of the diner holding a steaming cup of espresso. He turned toward the loft and almost ran into Maureen. "Hey." she greeted him. "You in a hurry?" then she noticed the glum expression on his face. "What's wrong?"

"I made the decision to drop out of college yesterday, so I'm going to have to move in with Roger after Spring Break." Mark answered, not sure why he felt compelled to tell his business to an almost complete stranger.

Maureen blinked at him for a minute. "Ask me out." she ordered suddenly.

"Wh-what?" Mark stammered.

"I want you to ask me out." she repeated. "I like you."

Mark swallowed. "Um, Maureen would you like to go out with me?" he asked softly, going as red as his shirt.

"I'd love to." she answered. "Meet me at the pub at eight tonight, okay? I know this great place we can go." She winked at him and flounced off.

"O-okay." Mark called weakly after her. Then he hurried back to the loft, grinning.

Roger was lying on the couch idly strumming his guitar. He looked up as Mark came in. "You look better." he commented. "Fresh air help?"

"That, this large espresso, and the fact that I have a date tonight." Mark replied.

"With who?" Roger demanded. He lurched to his feet and cringed as his guitar hit the floor.

Mark laughed as Roger picked up it up and kissed it with an apology. "I'm going out with Maureen Johnson." he answered.

"Who the hell is that? Mark you've only been here a couple days, I hope you're not going out with someone you met on the street." Roger said worriedly.

"It's that girl from Joe's Pub who was serving the drinks. Her name is Maureen Johnson." Mark explained.

"That's just as bad as some one from off the street!" Roger exclaimed. "I was only kidding when I suggested you go out with her."

"I know, but I really like her. Besides if I'm going to be living here, you can't be the only one with a girlfriend." Mark reasoned.

Roger shook his head. "Whatever you say Mark. Dude, you've changed since high school. The Mark I used to know would never drop out of college or date a crazy chick he met at a pub."

Mark shrugged. "It's because I've been hanging around you for so long."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Roger said.

"I do too." Mark returned, not entirely talking about himself. He couldn't forget what Maureen had said about April buying something from that guy the other day.

Collins came in around four and it was later that evening when Benny came home and Mark was getting ready for his date. Benny flopped on the couch as soon as he came in and looked at Mark in amusement. "What are you doing?" he wanted to know. "I know you're not dressing up for an exciting evening here with Roger."

"No I've got a date and I'm trying to decide what I'm going to wear." Mark answered. "Speaking of dates, yours ended a while ago, where have you been?"

"Uh, I just went out for a while with a friend of mine from work." Benny lied quickly. "But enough about me, who are you going out with?"

"Roger's girlfriend's friend." Mark said. "I met her last night at the club and we hit it off I guess."

"Good for you." Benny congratulated him. "It took Roger this long to find a girl and you get one a couple of days after you get here."

Roger emerged from his bedroom in time to give Benny the finger. "It's about time you got back here." he said. "We have an announcement to make and we were trying to wait until you got home to make it." he went and knocked on Collins bedroom door. "Col we're making the announcement."

Once Collins came out and had sat down next to Benny on the couch, Roger put his arm around Mark. "Okay you guys I'm please to announce that my best friend Mark Cohen will be moving in with us here in a couple of weeks."

"How are you going to do that and still go to school?" Collins asked.

"I've decided that going to college is not really want to do right now. It was always my father's dream and not mine. So now I'm going to find out what it is I want to do, and what better place to do that than here?" Mark responded.

"So you're dropping out?" Benny asked incredulously. Mark nodded and Benny sighed. "You're getting like Roger now. Brown is an excellent school and you're just throwing away your education. But hey, if that's what you want to do." he added hastily after a glare from Roger.

"It is." Mark said firmly.

Collins got up and clapped him on the back. "Welcome to the family so to speak." he said happily. "You'll do great here."

"Thanks." Mark replied with a grin. He looked at the clock. "I've gotta go. Maureen's waiting."

Benny looked quizzically at Roger who shrugged. "Psycho chick from Joe's Pub." he replied and grabbed his jacket. "I'll walk down there with you and see if April wants to do something." he said to Mark. The two waved at Collins and Benny and headed out the door.

Maureen and April were sitting at a table waiting on the boys when they came in. April spotted them first and she and Maureen came over.

"Hi Mark." April greeted and then kissed Roger deeply.

Maureen rolled her eyes. "Please let's go, before I lose my appetite." she said and grabbed Mark's hand. "See ya April!" she called and then they were gone.

Maureen led him to a little place called the Life Café. "I love it here." she said. They walked into the door and the host looked up and groaned.

"Not you again." he said. "Do you actually have money this time?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." Maureen answered and showed Mark to a table. They sat down and ordered. Then Maureen stared at Mark for a while.

"You are different." she said finally. "Very different."

"Uh thanks." he responded. "What do you mean?"

"You're dropping out of school and moving in with Roger and you're happy about it. Your parents are probably going to disown you and you don't care." she explained.

"I care. But it's just time I do something for myself, you know? So I'm going back to Brown and get my stuff once Spring Break is over."

"Why wait till then?" Maureen wanted to know. "The quicker you get out there, the quicker you can start doing what you want to do."

"That's a good point. I guess I could go get my stuff sooner. It would probably cut down awkwardness of people seeing me leaving." Mark said with a smile.

"Of course it would." Maureen said. "Every one will be off for break and you can get in and out with minimal embarrassment." Their food came and they ate in silence for a while. When they were done Maureen looked at Mark again. "What is it exactly that you want to do?" she asked.

"I want to make films about the issues." Mark answered. "That's my passion."

Maureen cocked her head to the side. "That's interesting. I want to perform about the issues. Maybe we were destined to meet."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

_I know that I have been updating a lot today, but I was quite bored over the holiday and got a lot of work done. Enjoy the fruits of my labor and then review!_

Mark went to get his things from Brown two days later and moved in with Roger, Benny, and Collins. He had no contact from his parents, got a job, and went out with Maureen just about every weekend. Roger continued to date April, and the guys got to know her, and the fact that she was on drugs, well because she was always at the loft with Roger. Mimi stopped thinking so much about Roger and started focusing on her jobs and dating Benny.

Benny himself was happy to have a girlfriend, and grew a little too close to his boss' daughter, Alison Grey. Collins came out to his friends, who weren't really that surprised or upset until he contracted AIDS from one of his students. But he was dealing with it and every one was pretty happy, until they found out about Roger being on drugs. It happened one October morning almost a year after Mark had moved in.

Roger had left for Drew's house to practice for a gig they had later that week and Mark was running late for his job at the hardware store. He was looking for his name badge that Roger kept stealing and using as a guitar pick. He couldn't find it in the main room or kitchen so the last place for him to look was Roger's bedroom.

He pushed the door open and walked into the room. There were clothes and balled up pieces of paper scattered all over the floor and dresser. Mark searched the entire room, then moved to the dresser to look in the drawers. The badge wasn't in the first three, so he looked in the very bottom drawer. There was his name tag, beside an open brown case that held a lighter, some powder, and a needle.

Mark's eyes widened as he took the badge and slammed the drawer shut. He so did not have time to deal with this now. So he put on his name tag and hurried out of the loft.

He was having trouble concentrating as he directed people to the different aisles in the hardware store. At last he looked up as Maureen walked through the front door. "I'm taking my break." he called to the girl who was on the next aisle. She nodded and moved to take his place. He hurried to Maureen and pushed her back through the door.

"What's wrong with you Mark?" she wanted to know. "You look paler than usual."

"Mo, I saw something I never wanted to see this morning." Mark whispered.

"Was Roger naked again?" Maureen joked. When Mark didn't even crack a smile she knew something was wrong. So she led him over to a bench and grabbed his hands. "What's going on Pookie?" she asked worriedly.

"I was looking for my name tag in Roger's drawer, and found some drugs." Mark told her.

"Oh no." Maureen said. "Was it the same stuff April does?"

Mark nodded. "Looked like it. What if Roger is on drugs Maureen? What am I going to do?"

"You've got to say something to him." Maureen said. "Maybe if you and Collins and Benny all get together."

"I guess." Mark replied. "We'll try it when we all get home. Do you think you could go say something to the guys? I've got to get back in there before I lose my job, I was a little spacey today."

"That's understandable." Maureen sympathized. She kissed Mark on the cheek and stood up. "I'll go have a talk with Collins and Benny. You concentrate on not getting fired."

Mark nodded. "Thanks Maureen. I love you." then he turned and walked back into the store, leaving his girlfriend staring after him.

"He said he loved me." Maureen whispered. Then she shook her head and headed to the boys' building. The only one of Mark and Roger's roommates who was at home when she got there was Collins. He was sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and reading a think book. Maureen slid the door open and he looked up at her.

"Hey Maureen." he greeted. "Mark's at work and Roger's off at rehearsal so you can't bother him right now."

She smirked at him. "I know that. I actually came here to talk to you."

Collins put his book down and raised an eyebrow at her. "You're being relatively calm today. Usually you're radiating with manic energy. What's wrong, you and Mark have a fight and you want me to patch it up?"

"No, Mark and I are fine. He asked me to talk to you about Roger. Mark was in his room earlier and he found some drugs, like the kind that April does. And well, you know Mark. He's worried and thinking up the worst case scenarios."

"That sounds like Mark." Collins replied. "I can't believe that Roger would do drugs. I mean when he first found out that April was on them he tried to stop her. There has to be some other explanation."

Maureen hoped so for Mark's sake, if not for Roger's. But everyone was let down when Roger came home from rehearsal. No one knew where Benny was, so it was just Collins, Mark and Maureen for support. Roger came in and everyone could tell that he was high. His eyes were glassy as he stumbled through the door.

"What's up you guys?" he said as he came in and flopped on the couch. "Why do you all look so bummed out?"

"How was rehearsal Roger?" Collins asked him.

"It was awesome. We played better than we ever have before." Roger answered.

"I'll just bet you did." Maureen muttered under her breath. "Every thing sounds better when you're high I suppose."

"What?" Roger asked.

"I said when you're high everything sounds better. You know high on drugs? Like you are now?" she repeated firmly.

"Why Roger?" Mark wanted to know.

Roger shrugged. "April asked me to try it and all the guys in the band do it. They said it would make us have a better sound, and I would have done anything to keep us from sucking like we did. It's no big deal."

"Yes it is a big deal." Collins shouted at him. "When you're using the money that is supposed to go towards paying the rent, on drugs just to make your pathetic little band sound better to you, then it's a big deal. You and April are just kids Roger. You don't know what you're doing to yourselves. And chances are you won't know until it's too late."

Roger scowled at him. "Where was all this knowledge when you were fucking that student of yours. Seems like you could've saved yourself a lot of medicine and doctors visits if you had've taken your own advice." he retorted.

"Well I'm paying for that now aren't I? And you know what, my life ain't so bad. But how do you think your payback's going to be? You aren't that bright Roger. And it's easy for idiots to overdose. Just remember that." Collins got to his feet and walked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Roger exhaled sharply and looked at Mark. "You wanna yell at me too?" he asked.

Mark just looked at him with sad eyes and Maureen took his hand and led him towards the door. Before they left she turned and looked at Roger. "If you get too deep into April's world, you'll kill her, yourself, and your best friend." Then she walked out of the door with Mark in tow.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next few weeks went by without incident and Mark hoped that maybe something they had said to Roger was sinking in and that maybe he was making an effort to get clean.

That dream was shattered one rainy night when he had walked Maureen home after her shift at Joe's and was hurrying back to the loft. He ran by an alley where there appeared to be two people crouched in the dark. One of the shadows looked familiar to him so he doubled back.

There in the dark were Roger and April. "April it's raining, we need to go." Roger urged her.

"Just one more hit Rog." April replied, he voice ragged from the drugs. "Then we can go." Roger nodded and reached for the needle that she had just got done using. Mark didn't wait to see if he used it or not. He ran furiously back to their building and flung himself up the stairs and into the loft.

Collins heard the door slide open and closed and looked up from where he was getting his stuff ready to go off to MIT. He came out into the main room and there stood Mark dripping wet and breathing hard. "Fuck Mark, are you okay?" Collins asked him. "You look horrible."

Mark just shook his head and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

Collins was taken aback by this and he went over to the door. "Mark what is it?" then it dawned on him what could make the usually mild mannered young man so upset. "Roger again?" he asked finally. All he heard were gulping sobs from inside the bathroom.

Roger knew better than to go home as trashed as he was. So he and April went back to her apartment, which was only a little better than the loft. Once they had settled in April's bed Roger sighed. "April maybe we shouldn't be doing that anymore."

"Doing what babe?" she mumbled.

"You know, that whole shooting up in back alleys thing." Roger responded. "That stuff is unsanitary. Mark and Collins are already mad enough at me for just doing drugs. If I get some kind of infection, they'll disown me."

"But I'll still love you. Disease and all." April whispered to him.

"Yeah I know, but Mark and Collins have really been on me about quitting lately. Maybe it's something we should consider." Roger told her.

"Roger, you know you love the way it feels just like I do. You love how much better the drugs make you sound when you play with your band. If you could quit you would have done it already. Now stop thinking and kiss me." April ordered. Roger shoved his doubts to the back of his mind and obeyed.

Collins left for MIT three days later leaving Mark, Roger, Benny, and Maureen who had just moved in when Collins moved out. Every one turned up to see him off, even Benny, and Roger was completely sober for the occasion. The last words that Collins said to Mark were "Watch him Mark. Give him an inch and he'll take a mile."

Now Mark and Roger were sitting alone in the loft when Benny came bursting in holding the hand of a blond girl. "Hey you two!" he called out and Mark and Roger appeared from their respective rooms. "I want you to meet Alison Grey. She's my fiancé."

Mark nearly fell over from surprise. "What happened to Mimi?" he asked.

"We broke up a while ago Mark. When was the last time that you saw us together?" Benny responded.

"He'd have to think back to the last time he actually saw you for more than five minutes." Roger interjected. "But now I understand, you were busy courting some girl from the land of the privileged."

Benny rolled his eyes. "Alison these are my friends Mark Cohen and Roger Davis. Don't mind Roger, he's not used to seeing people who live about 42nd street."

Roger smirked at him. "Well my opinion of the upper class is rapidly changing. I thought they all had good taste. But that can't be true if one of them is marrying you. Where are you and your future wife going live by the way? If you haven't noticed the only empty space we had was filled by Mark's girlfriend."

"We won't live here that's for sure." Benny said. "I'll be moving out as soon as we get married."

"That's some of the best news I had all day." Roger replied and walked back to his room.

Mark sighed and came forward to shake Alison's hand. "Please don't let Roger's attitude speak for all people who live down below 42nd. He's never that hospitable. Plus his girlfriend wasn't feeling well and had to go to the doctor today. _I'm_ pleased to meet you and I hope you will be happy with our Benny."

"I hope so too Mark." Alison replied with a smile.

Downstairs, Mimi was having a conversation with Angel over lunch. "So Mimi chica, you and that Benny guy are through, yes?"

Mimi sighed. "Yeah. After a while he stopped being so nice and I started feeling more like a booty call than a girlfriend."

"Nothing wrong with a good booty call girl." Angel said to her best friend and the two collapsed in giggles. "What about Roger?"

Mimi sighed again. "He has a girlfriend. I saw them kissing outside the other day. Plus I don't think he'd be too happy about _that_." she said nodding to the needle that was sitting on her table.

"I'm not happy about that either _Maria_." Angel said sternly. "You are killing yourself with that stuff."

"I'm dying anyway Ang. I've had HIV since I was fourteen. Why not get my kicks while I can?" Mimi told her. "And stop with that Maria thing. You know I hate it."

Angel shrugged and scowled at her. "Yeah well I've had it for a while too Mimi chica. How can I get _my_ kicks if I'm so busy worrying about you? And I wouldn't be so worried about Roger disapproving of your 'kicks'. From what I've heard he gets plenty of his own."

"Nothing wrong with that." Mimi murmured to herself.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Later that night Mark was sitting on the couch reading when the phone rang and he leaned over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey there boy." Collins said cheerfully. "What's going on over there?"

"Um let's see." Mark replied. "Benny's getting married to some chick named Alison from the upper side, Roger's being Roger, I'm bored out of my mind and Maureen is singing on the fire escape."

"So it's been a busy day then." Collins responded. "Ah Benny the yuppie. I should have known that he would go to the upper class eventually. What happened to that Mimi chick?"

"They broke up I guess." Mark answered. "I'm not even really sure what happened. And truthfully, I don't really care. I think there's something going on with Roger and April. She went to the doctor today and he's been in a bad mood all day."

"You never know with that one." Collins told him. "Look tell everyone I said hello okay? I'll be home to visit before you know it." They ended their conversation and Mark went back to his book.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. "Hello?" Mark answered.

"Hey um Mark?" came April's soft voice. "Could you tell Roger that I'm sleeping at home tonight and that he should just stay at the loft? Oh and tell him to stay away from Greg for a while."

"Are you okay April?" Mark asked with concern. "And who's Greg?"

"Roger knows." she answered a little cryptically. "And I'm not really sure if I'm okay or not. Just tell Roger what I said." She hung up before he could ask anything else and Mark sighed and went to tell Roger.

He knocked on the door and heard a muffled "Yeah?" from inside the room.

"April just called. She said to tell you that she's staying at her house tonight and that you should just stay here. Also that you should stay away from Greg." Mark called.

Roger opened the door. His eyes looked a little blood shot and there were heavy bags under them. "You know who Greg is?" he asked.

"No, and I asked April but she wouldn't tell me." Mark complained.

"Good." was all Roger said and he closed the door back muttering to himself. Mark shook his head and wondered again what was going on with his best friend these days.

This same thing went on for about five days until Mark grew sick of it and banged on Roger's door for about ten minutes.

"What the fuck do you want Mark!?" the latter shouted and flung the door open.

"You need to get out of the loft." Mark said simply. "I've left you alone for the past five days and I'm sick of you being locked up in there doing God knows what. So now I'm doing something about it."

Roger grumbled but Mark wouldn't leave him alone until he went out, so he wasn't there when April came walking in fifteen minutes later.

She looked a little pale and was holding a crumpled piece of paper in her hand. "Hi Mark." she said, her voice devoid of emotion.

"Uh, Hi April. Is everything alright?" Mark wanted to know. "You haven't been around much lately. Are you and Roger fighting or something?"

April shook her head. "No. Look I'm going to use you guys' shower. Is that alright?"

"Um yeah." Mark answered. "It's fine. Roger should be back soon. I sent him out because he was just lying around all day locked up in his room."

"Did he see Greg?" April wanted to know.

"I don't think so. Like I said, this is the first he's left the house since you called that time. Who _is_ this Greg person?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." she replied and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Mark shrugged and walked out onto the fire escape with his camera to film some of the people walking below. He was so wrapped up in that, that he didn't hear the door bang open and Roger come back into the loft.

"Hey what are you doing?" Roger asked as he came out to join his friend.

Mark jumped and nearly dropped his camera. "Jesus Christ Rog. Don't do that." then he looked at him. "Hey you're smiling. That's new."

Roger made a face and rolled his eyes. "I hate to admit it but you were right. I did need to get out of my room. I went down to the Life and talked to the waiter and then I paid a little visit to the Cat Scratch Club. Needless to say, I feel better." the two were quiet as they looked out over the city. "So is that Maureen taking a shower in there?" Roger asked after a minute.

Mark started. "No that's April. I didn't know she was still in there. She came in about an hour ago and said she was going to take a shower. What is it with girls and super long showers? They may as well take baths for that."

Roger shrugged. "Beats me." he said.

"She looked kind of tired when she got here. Maybe you should go make sure that she didn't like fall asleep in there or something."

"Yeah I guess." Roger agreed. He climbed back into the main room of the loft and knocked on the bathroom door. "April? Are you okay in there?" there was no answer. "April?" Roger slowly opened the door and went in. "Look April don't kill me for coming in but I had to make sure you were…" he trailed off.

Mark giggled. "Yes Roger there is a naked girl in there. Don't be so shocked." Roger just made a small choking noise in response. "Rog?" Mark went back into the loft and peered into the bathroom. What he saw would haunt him for years.

Roger was standing in the middle of the floor staring at the bathtub. The first two things Mark noticed after that were the note, and the blood. There was so much blood everywhere. It was splashed on the counter, the floor, and pooled in the tub around April's pale and lifeless body.

Mark had to find something, anything to look at, other than her body. So he turned to the note that was taped to the fogged up mirror. "We've got AIDS." was written in April's handwriting. That was all. In a way that scared Mark more than all the blood and he started forward to turn the shower off just because that was the normal thing to do.

"Don't." Roger said suddenly. Mark paused with his hand over the blood stained knob. "Just don't touch it." Roger repeated and nodded at the note. He closed his eyes and grabbed the knob and shut off the water.

"You shouldn't." Mark began.

"It doesn't matter anymore." his friend replied. That was the same thing April had said, before she'd done _this_.

Roger kept looking back and forth from the note to April's bloodied body. "Should I?" Mark asked. His best friend knelt down beside the tub, weeping, and grabbed the girl's hand. It was then that they saw that the source of all the blood was her wrists which she had obviously slit.

That was the last straw for Mark and he ran out into the main room and dialed 911. Roger refused to leave his girlfriend's body until the paramedics came and Mark had to drag him away.

All the excitement was over rather quickly. The police came and took some pictures, the paramedics took some blood samples and the body. They even cleaned up all the blood as best they could. All that was left was a tired Mark and a grief stricken Roger leaning against the couch.


	13. Chapter 13

This next part will go pretty fast for the sake of telling the story. So try to keep up and review!

Chapter 13

_Roger was standing in the middle of the floor staring at the bathtub. The first two things Mark noticed after that were the note, and the blood. There was so much blood everywhere. It was splashed on the counter, the floor, and pooled in the tub around April's pale and lifeless body. Mark had to find something, anything to look at, other than her body. So he turned to the note that was taped to the fogged up mirror. "We've got AIDS." was written in April's handwriting. That was all._

Roger was a complete and total mess. That meant the task of calling people fell to Mark. Normally this would have been too much for him to handle, but seeing his usually tough best friend crying his eyes out spurred him to action.

First he called Collins and broke the news to him. "Mark that's not funny." was the first thing that the teacher said.

"Collins. I'm serious." Mark replied and choked back a sob. "She's gone."

The pain in his friend's voice made Collins believe and he let out a sigh. "Is Roger…?" he asked.

"Roger's crying." Mark replied. "I don't think he wants to talk right now." Collins agreed and said that he would try to make it back as soon as he could for the funeral. Mark hung up and told Roger what Collins had said. At the word funeral, Roger slumped to the ground and cried harder. Mark feared he was going to break down too when the door slid open and Maureen came walking in looking a little pale.

"Maureen? Are you alright?" her boyfriend asked as she sat on the couch.

"There was an ambulance downstairs." she said softly. "They were loading a body into it and I asked them, you know what had happened. And they said that a girl up here had killed herself. I just knew it was her Mark." Maureen burst into tears and Mark went to hug her.

"How did you know?" he asked quietly.

Maureen sniffed. "She called me yesterday. She said she was quitting Joe's and that she was waiting for something really important. I kept asking her what was going on, but she wouldn't say anything. What happened Mark?"

Mark sighed. "April came over here about three hours ago. She told me that she was tired and that she wanted to take a shower. Then she went into the bathroom and slit her wrists." he showed Maureen the note. "This was all she left."

Maureen read it silently and then gasped. "What does that mean?"

"It was for Roger." Mark said simply. He looked over the back of the couch and at his best friend. "Rog, maybe you should go to your room and get off the floor." he suggested.

Roger sobbed some more. "April." he whispered.

"Oh honey." Maureen exclaimed and went over to him. "Come on. You have to get up." she bent over and helped Roger up. "Mark can't handle all this emotion now." she lead him to his room.

"Why Maureen?" Roger choked out. "Why did she do this?"

"I don't know Roger." was her answer.

The next week was a blur. Mark and Maureen stepped up and handled all of the questions and details dealing with April's suicide. Roger only left his room to use the bathroom and eat. Otherwise he was curled in a ball and crying. They knew that April had a sister who lived in the city, so Maureen called her and broke the bad news. She said she would take care of informing the rest of the family and making sure they came to the funeral that Mark was planning.

On the day of the funeral it took everything Roger had to get up and dressed. But somehow he did. Collins had come in the night before they all left for the church together.

The funeral itself progressed well. April's mother and sisters spoke about her and a couple of her friends from work said things as well. When it was her turn, Maureen took a deep breath and went to the front.

"Hi." she said. "I'm Maureen Johnson and April and I were like best friends. We worked together at Joe's and were mostly inseparable. She was dating a great guy named Roger," she nodded to him. "and I was dating his best friend. So we were having a great time. Or at least I thought we were. I know that many of you feel cheated, not knowing about April's death until way after the fact and because you think that if it was that bad she could have come to any one of you and asked for help." Maureen paused here and looked at her friends. "Well we feel like that too. Mark, Collins, Roger, and I. We all wish she would have said something, instead of doing what she did and only leaving three words behind. But no matter what, we'll miss you April." with that, she bowed her head and returned to her seat.

The pastor looked out at the guests and asked if anyone else would like to say anything. No one came forward so he ended the service. April's body was not present at the funeral so everyone filed out sadly. Mark, Maureen, and Collins were talking to April's sister, leaving Roger standing to the side where he was cornered by April's mother.

"You're Roger?" she asked abruptly. Roger nodded slowly. "Why didn't you say anything in there? Why didn't you say anything for April?"

He just looked at her sadly. "Ma, leave him alone." April's sister Elizabeth reprimanded. "Can't you see he's in pain?"

"_He's in pain_?" the older woman asked incredulously. "I just had to sit in the funeral for my daughter because she killed herself over this bum, and you say that _he's_ in pain. How do you think I feel Elizabeth?" she started sobbing and Elizabeth excused them and led her mother away.

Benny and Alison got married a few weeks after April's funeral, Collins went back to MIT, and Mark, Roger and Maureen were left alone in the loft. At first Roger kept doing heroin just to keep the pain away, and Mark and Maureen left him alone, knowing that the grief was getting the better of him.

One night or early morning rather, Maureen was up and heading to the bathroom. The door was shut and there was the sound of soft sobbing coming from inside. She pushed the door open slowly and saw Roger standing over the toilet, staring into it, and crying.

"Roger? Are you alright?" she asked with concern. "What are you looking at?" Maureen hesitated and then walked over and looked into the toilet. Floating there was a few packets of white powder and a couple of needles. "What does this mean?" she asked him.

He sniffed. "This stuff wasn't helping me. And it's probably how April and I got-" he broke off. "We weren't always careful or clean."

"So you're giving it up? Can you do that?" Maureen wanted to know.

"I can try." Roger replied. "Mark was right this whole time. This stuff is not worth dying over. I went to the clinic and got tested this morning while you two were at the store. I already know what the results are going to be, but I just thought it was better to sure."

Maureen grinned and hugged him. "I'm proud of you." she said. "But can you get out now? I kinda have to pee." Roger hugged her back and went to his room.

Mark was awake and staring at the ceiling when Maureen went back into the room they shared. "Maureen we can't let Roger keep doing this to himself. I understand that he is sad and doesn't know what else to do, but we're just letting him kill himself this way."

Maureen slid under the covers and snuggled into her boyfriend's side. "Mark he's done." she said happily.

"He's what?"

"Roger's done with drugs. He just flushed all his stash down the toilet a few minutes ago. And he went to the clinic earlier today. He's getting his life back in order. Things should be easier from now on." Maureen replied with a smile. How wrong she was.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Mimi was onstage at the Cat Scratch Club earning next month's rent when she looked up and saw her best friend heading toward a table near the stage.

"Hey Sweetheart." a drunk man said to Angel. "You should be up there shaking all that on stage. Want me to get you an interview with the boss?"

Angel smiled politely. "No thank you." she said. "I'm not cut out for this kind work."

"Sure you are cutie." the man continued. "I mean a hottie like you should really be up there strutting her stuff." he grabbed Angel's arm and pulled her towards the stage. Angel sighed and yanked her arm away. The man grabbed for her again and she kicked him swiftly between the legs.

He groaned and fell on the floor. "How is it you bitches always know to go for the nuts?" he gasped in pain.

"It helps if you have a pair yourself." Angel replied and delicately stepped over him. Mimi was just wrapping up her dance and climbing off the stage when Angel made her way over to her.

"Ang, I'm never going to be able to pay the rent and buy food if you keep hurting the customers." Mimi joked and gave her friend a hug. "What brings you to the den of sin?"

"Just though I'd check up on you chica. You know how I feel about you working in this place. Sometimes I have to come and make sure that nothing has happened to you." Angel responded. "Oh and I have a bit of sad gossip for you."

"I'm all ears." Mimi said and grabbed a drink from the bar.

"Remember a couple of months ago when that ambulance was at your building?" Angel asked, and Mimi nodded. "Well I heard from one of the people who sleep on that street that some redheaded girl had killed herself in one of the upper apartments. So I did a little flirting with one of the EMT's and _he_ said that though he couldn't tell me her name, they had pulled a suicide victim out of the loft on the top floor of the building in the same day you saw that ambulance."

"So one of Roger's friends killed herself? That's so sad." Mimi remarked.

"Not just one of his friends Mimi. The manager of Joe's Pub told me that Roger had been dating a certain redheaded waitress for the past few months. One who had recently died." Angel corrected.

"Oh God! His girlfriend? He must be so sad." Mimi said. "We should do something for him."

"Wouldn't do any good." Angel replied. "The cute guy who lives below you says that Roger doesn't come out of the loft anymore. He told me that he got some bad news last week and now he doesn't leave and everyone hears these strange noises during the day. You want to try to move in on him now?"

Mimi shook her head as her manager yelled at her to get back on the stage. "No. He needs some space. There'll be plenty of time for us to get to know each other later."

"Speaking of getting to know people, your ex boyfriend Benny isn't having any trouble finding new people to date." Angel began. "In fact he got married two weeks ago."

"How do you know?" Mimi demanded.

"I used to date this guy who works as a bartender and he helped cater the wedding reception for a Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Coffin two weeks ago."

Mimi rolled her eyes. "That is so typical." she said. "I need to get back up there. Sleepover later?"

Angel gave her friend a hug. "You know it girl." she replied and then left with all eyes on her.

Roger was not having an easy time. The noises that their neighbors were hearing were the sounds of withdrawal. His test results had come back positive and now they all knew for sure that Roger had HIV. This spurred him to give up drugs forever though it was not proving to be an easy task.

Sometimes he couldn't even get up in the mornings and it didn't help that the landlord had started messing with their power and the loft was always a little chilly.

One day Mark came home from a day rare day of filming. He tried not to go out too much unless Maureen was around to look after Roger. On this particular day, he walked in and Roger was laying on the floor shivering uncontrollably. Tears were running down his face and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. Mark ran over to him.

"Roger are you okay?" he exclaimed.

"It hurts Mark." Roger sobbed. "I can feel the needle. It's stabbing me all over. It hurts so bad. Make it stop please."

Mark paled and just stood there not knowing what to do. Suddenly the door opened and Maureen came in. She took one look at Roger on the floor and Mark too scared to move and took action. She moved Mark out of the way and knelt down next to Roger. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.

"The pain." Roger whispered. "I can't make it stop." he let out a wail as another shake racked his body.

Maureen held back tears and pulled him to her chest. She whispered in his ear and rubbed his chest until he had calmed down. "You'll be okay Roger." she said finally. "Go get some rest and the pain will go away." Roger gave a small nod and headed to his room.

Once he had shut the door behind him, Maureen got to her feet and went over to where Mark was sitting on the couch staring at the wall. "What was all that about?" she asked.

"I-I." Mark stuttered. "I didn't know what to do. I've never seen Roger like this, not even when we were younger. He was always the one who stopped me from crying. I don't know if I can handle this."

Maureen grabbed his shoulders and looked dead into his blue eyes. "Mark you have to be strong because right now Roger's not. You said that he always ,made you stop crying and protected you, right?" Mark nodded. "Then now it's your turn to return the favor. He won't make it through this without our help Pookie."

"I know." Mark whispered back. "I know."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Well I guess that's it then. The deal's closed and we'll begin development by next year. Excellent job Benjamin."

"Thank you Mr. Grey." Benny replied. "This has always been a dream of mine."

The other man chuckled. "And what about marrying my daughter? Was that a dream of yours as well?"

"Of course sir." Benny answered quickly.

Back in the loft, Roger was having one of his good days, which was excellent because Maureen and Mark were having a fight. They were arguing so loud that Roger could hear them through his closed door.

"I just want to know where you were last night." Mark was saying. "Why are you getting so defensive?"

"Because you're always trying to tell me what to do Mark!" Maureen yelled back. "I'm your girlfriend, not your daughter."

"I know that." Mark shouted. "What's the matter with you?"

Maureen sighed. "You know what's wrong with me, you know exactly how I feel." she intoned.

"You can't be serious!" Mark screamed at her, finally losing it. "You can't really expect me to chose between the two of you! Especially not after you practically ordered me to put my own feelings aside and be there for him. I'm not listening to this!"

"That's your problem Mark Cohen!" Maureen yelled finally. "You don't fucking listen." she walked to the door and shook her head at him. "It's making you turn into your father." with that she stormed out slamming the door behind her.

"I am _not_ turning into my _father_!" Mark shouted at no one in particular. Then he sighed and flopped down on the couch.

A few minutes later the sound of Roger's beeper going off was heard and Roger pushed his door open timidly and poked his head out. "Is the storm over yet?" he asked carefully.

Mark grinned reluctantly as his best friend came into the room. "You must be feeling better today if you can make jokes about my turbulent love life."

"Turbulent is _not_ the word for it." Roger replied. "That was more like, volcanic."

"Ha ha." Mark retorted. "Take your AZT."

"That's what I came out here for, Mother Marky." Roger assured him and went to the cabinet to get his pills. "Hey, where did that hole in the wall come from?" he asked, pointing to a huge dent in the wall right beside the refrigerator. "Did Maureen throw something at you?"

"No. That was you." Mark said dryly. "Remember yesterday when I asked you why exactly you were laying next to the iron while it was on?" Roger shook his head and swallowed his pill. "Well let's just say that you thought a sufficient answer would be to throw it at me."

"Oh yeah. It's coming back now." Roger responded. "Sorry about that."

Mark waved his apology away. "It's okay. I mean the place already looks like a junk heap, what's an extra hole or two?"

Roger smiled a bit and went to sit beside him. "Mark, am I going get better?" he asked softly.

Mark was caught off guard by his question and he turned to look into Roger's green eyes. They held a fear unlike any Mark had ever seen in his best friend's eyes. "Course you are." he answered with false cheer. "Look at you, you've had two good days this week."

"Yeah but." Roger looked out the window. "That's just two good days, out of how many really crappy ones?" he wanted to know. "Yesterday was horrible, and when I woke up this morning, I couldn't remember that much about what happened. And then what about that?" he pointed at the dent in the wall. "It could've really hurt you, if you'd gotten hit. Maybe I should go to rehab or something." the room was silent for a second. Then, "I already killed April. I couldn't live with myself if I did anything to you."

"First of all," Mark began. "you can't go to rehab because we can't afford it. More importantly? You. Did. Not. Kill. April. April killed April. She wanted to die and so she did."

"Yeah but." Roger said again. This time when he looked up, there were tears glistening in his eyes. "I still feel responsible for it."

"Yeah and I feel responsible for what's happening to you right now. But I refuse to give up that easily."

Roger stared at the skinny blond beside him. He remembered that every time something bad happened to him, Mark was always there, with that same sympathetic look on his face. Ready to pick up the pieces like he always was.

On the next floor down, Mimi and Angel were having a mini fashion show in Mimi's bedroom. After they had tried on all the clothes that Angel had bought from the thrift store down the street, Mimi jumped on the bed. "So got any gossip for me Angel?" she asked.

"It's funny that you should mention that." Angel replied and sat on the floor, adjusting her wig. "I did see something interesting on the way up here."

"So spill." Mimi ordered.

"Well when I was heading up the stairs, I saw this girl who I know for a fact works at Joe's Pub. She was coming out of Roger and Mark's loft." Angel told her. "This would be unimportant if not for the fact that she was muttering, rather loudly, about how Mark was making her sick with his worrying about Roger."

"I hope he's going to be okay." Mimi murmured.

Later that evening, Maureen walked into a nice restaurant and looked around. She spotted her date sitting close to the back.

"Hey." she greeted him sweetly.

"Hey babe. You look nice." the man replied as he got up to kiss her. "What took you so long?"

"I had a fight with my brother Mark and I just needed some time to cool off." Maureen responded and sat down.


	16. Chapter 16

_There's a lot of yelling in this chapter and probably a lot of crying as well. Oh and the song is by the Lost Profits and was in no way around during pre-Rent times. I just wanted to use it. As always, I own nothing._

Chapter 16

Mark was having a horrible day. It was pouring down rain outside, Roger was having a bad withdrawal day, and he hadn't seen Maureen all afternoon. Collins had called earlier that day, saying that he'd be home for Christmas. But that didn't do much to cheer Mark up, as Christmas was still five months away. He glanced at the bathroom door. Roger had been in there for over an hour and Mark was really trying not to worry.

Finally he could stand it no longer. He got up off the couch and walked over to the bathroom. There was no answer to his timid knock, so he tried again. Still nothing. Mark started having flashbacks of April's last shower, so he cautiously turned the doorknob, opened the door and was met with a haunting sight.

Roger was standing in front of the mirror, staring down at the counter where there was assembled, what they would jokingly refer to later as, a Home Suicide Kit. There was a large bottle of antidepressant pills, the only sharp knife they owned, a small handgun, and a blow-dryer, which was plugged in, and sitting dangerously close to the sink full of water.

"What the hell are you doing Roger?" Mark exclaimed.

"What does it look like?" Roger spat at him. "I'm curing myself. It's a home remedy. April taught it to me."

"Roger." Mark said warningly to his best friend. "You don't want to do this."

He turned and looked at the filmmaker. There was a crazed look in his eyes and he was sweating and trembling. "Oh yes I do. There's nothing that I want more. So don't get in my way Mark."

"Roger." Mark called imploringly. "Listen to me. Come away from the counter."

"No! I've got it all figured out. All I have to do is choose which way I want to end this. I could swallow these pills, cut myself or shoot myself. Then there's always electrocution." Roger said gesturing to the blow-dryer. "I was never good at making the right decisions though."

Mark came into the bathroom and grabbed Roger's arm. "This isn't the way out." he whispered.

"Who are you to tell me the way out?" Roger yelled. "You don't anything about this! You don't know how bad this hurts Mark!"

"Yes I do." Mark intoned. "I know."

"NO YOU DON'T!!" Roger screamed, snatching his arm back. "You don't have to wake up to this pain every morning! You don't feel the needle stabbing into you again and again and again! All you have to worry about in stupid little Marky land is your stupid girlfriend and her stupid issues. You Don't know anything about this!" he slammed out of the bathroom and into his own bedroom.

Mark breathed a small sigh of relief. "At least he's away from the weapons." he sighed. He quickly gathered up all of Roger's tools and hid them away. But his peace was short lived. Not more than an hour later, Mark emerged from his bedroom to find Roger's bedroom door ajar, and the door to the loft standing wide open. "Oh no." he groaned. He stuck his head out the window and looked up. "Please no."

There was the sound of sobbing and very loud singing coming from the roof. "Shit." Mark swore and headed out the door. It was still raining hard outside with the occasional flash of lightning crossing the sky. He reached the roof in record time, tripping over several stairs on the way up. When he flung open the door, Roger was standing near the edge of the roof looking over to the ground, singing, and crying at the same time. "_We're standing on the rooftops, everybody scream your heart out! Standing on the rooftops everybody scream your heart out! This is what we got now everybody scream your heart out!_" he screamed out through his sobs.

"Roger!" Mark screamed just as forcefully. "Get down from there!" His voice was lost in the roll of thunder that rang out and in Roger's frantic screams. But somehow the broken musician could already sense that his best friend was near.

"Go back inside Mark." he said, his voice carrying over the sudden lull in the storm.

Mark took a few steps towards the edge. "Not without you." he called firmly. "You'll catch your death out here in this storm."

"That's the plan." Roger whispered. "I'm sorry Mark." he swayed with the gust of wind that blew fiercely and leaned a little father over the edge of the roof. He gulped as he viewed the wet pavement and cars that were so far below him. Then suddenly, a hand wrapped around his arm and he was yanked back from what he thought to be his sweet release.

Mark and Roger both tumbled back and onto the floor of the roof. The former, panting from the strain of pulling the latter. Roger pushed himself up off the ground and Mark, and headed for the door. Seconds later Mark heard him stomping down the stairs and back into the loft.

"You're welcome." he muttered angrily. He sighed and pulled his bruised body off of the ground and made his way back to the loft as well. "Just think." the bespectacled man told himself as he went down the stairs. "I could have stayed at Brown and become a doctor. But no, I had to come here to care for my psychotic suicidal best friend."

The friend in question was lying face down on the floor when Mark entered the loft. He rolled his eyes. "Get up Roger." he said tiredly. "You can catch your death on our floor too."

"Whdhntyultme?" was Roger's muffled response.

"What?"

Roger lifted his head. "Why don't you let me? Maybe I want to catch my death. Why can't you just let me do what I want for once?" He got up off the floor and before Mark knew what was happening he was being tackled. Luckily for him, they landed on the couch. And luckier still, thanks to Roger being disoriented, the punches that were being aimed at Mark's head were landing harmlessly on the couch cushions above it.

Mark's attacker didn't seem to notice this. He just kept punching. "You never let me do what I want." he yelled. "I wanted to drop out of school." _punch_ "I wanted to get high." _punch _"I wanted to be with April." _punch, punch _"I want to follow her. I want this pain to end." Roger quit punching and started sobbing again. "Just let it end." he met Mark's eyes. "Give me my drugs back, or let me kill myself and it will end." he begged.

"You. Don't. Need. The. Drugs." Mark gasped, pushing against Roger's chest to get free from where he was pinned to the couch. "And you don't need to die. You'll. Get. Through. This." with one final push, Roger staggered back and Mark wiggled out from under him.

Roger's eyes went dull and he trudged back to his room. Fortunately Mark and Maureen had gone through and removed anything that Roger could use to hurt himself weeks ago. So Mark finally breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to fall back against the couch.

Just then the front door slid open and Maureen walked in, her hair glistening with the rain that was now falling softly over the dirty New York streets. She paused and took in her boyfriend who was sweaty and still wet from being on the roof. Then she went to look at Roger in his room. He was curled up in the fetal position sleeping soundly. "So you won another battle." Maureen remarked as she came back into the main room. "What did he try to do this time?"

"Jump." Mark replied flatly. Maureen just looked at him blankly. "Off the roof." he clarified.

"Oh God." Maureen gasped. "And you had to deal with that all by yourself Pookie?"

Mark looked at her disdainfully. "Well you're never here anymore." he muttered.

"I know Pookie." Maureen replied and came to sit down beside him. "I'm so sorry. I was wrong, you should take care of Roger. He needs you." Maureen never admitted she was wrong out loud, even if she was, unless she was up to something.

Mark however, didn't know this. Plus he was in love with her. So he took Maureen at her word and allowed her to wrap her arms around him. He winced as she hit one of his bruises.

So as Maureen cooed over and soothed Mark's battered body, Roger slept fitfully after one of his worse withdrawal days ever. All were glad that they were one day closer to this ordeal being finished.


	17. Chapter 17

_More crying. But it's worth it, this is Roger's last day of withdrawal. There are happy times ahead. Sort of._

Chapter 17

The next morning Roger was having an okay day and Maureen was still in nice girlfriend mode, so Mark went out to get some filming in before lunch. Roger was still exhausted from his ordeal the night before, so he was lying on the couch watching as Maureen moved around in the kitchen.

"He doesn't deserve it you know." he called to her at one point. "I know what you're doing, and I want you to know that he doesn't deserve it."

Maureen laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about." she sang out. "Who doesn't deserve what?"

"Oh please Maureen. I know women. I know how their minds work. You're only being this nice to Mark because you feel guilty for something and you're trying to get over on him. I figure you're either cheating on him, getting ready to leave him, or both. Am I right?"

"Why don't you go find a building to jump off of?" Maureen joked coolly. "I'll tell you what Mark doesn't deserve. He doesn't deserve to be pushed around by his best friend. And he doesn't deserve to spend his life looking after a grown man who can't even take care of himself." she gave a dramatic stomp, stuck her nose in the air, and flounced off to the room she shared with Mark.

Roger fumed silently for nearly an hour after that. Partly because he was upset about what Maureen was doing to Mark, but mostly because he knew that she had a point. He _was_ being really unfair to Mark. Maureen came out of the room soon, dressed in jeans and a tube top. Roger didn't mention that she wasn't supposed to leave him alone as she walked past him and out of the loft.

As he sat on the couch, Roger began to have flashbacks of the previous night. He saw himself standing on the edge of the roof of their building with Mark begging him to get down, rain pelting them both. A simple thought made Roger do something he didn't often do. It hit him like a ton of bricks, Mark hated heights. He remembered it clearly.

_Mark was sitting on the couch reading a book and Roger was bored. Finally he looked over at his friend. "I want to show you something." he said._

_"I'm reading Roger." Mark replied without looking up._

_"Oh stop being such a nerd. What kind of dropout are you anyway? Just put the book down for ten minutes. It's worth it."_

_Mark knew that if he didn't listen to Roger, he would only keep bugging him. So he dog eared his page in the book and followed his best friend out of the loft and up the stairs to the roof. "Uh Rog? Where exactly are we going?" _

_"To the roof where else?" Roger replied. _

_Mark stopped dead on the stairs. "I am so _not_ going on the roof. I hate heights. Like I absolutely _abhor_ heights."_

Mark hated heights. But he'd gone to the roof anyway, because Roger had wanted him to. But never again. Except for last night, when he thought that Roger was going to jump.

The sudden thought of this made Roger sad to his very core. He pulled his knees to his chest and cried. He cried for April, for what he and Maureen were doing to Mark, and because he didn't know what was going to happen to himself.

He was still crying when Mark came in from his afternoon of filming. The look of happy freedom on his pale face made Roger cry even harder.

Mark looked at his friend as a sob racked his too thin body. The happy look vanished, replaced instead by one of concern. "Roger? What's the matter?"

Roger shook his head fervently. He didn't want Mark to worry about him, but he couldn't stop crying either.

The filmmaker came over and sat on the couch with him. "Talk to me Rog, what happened? Why are you crying?" Roger knew how much it freaked Mark out to see him cry, so he tried to get a hold of himself. But he needn't have worried. The little nerdy boy that the rocker had befriended had done a lot of growing in the past few months. Mark put his arms around Roger and pulled him as close to his chest as he could. "Tell me what's wrong." he whispered.

Roger was a little surprised at how strong Mark had become. He was used to being the one to wrap his arms around the skinny young man and whisper to him to tell him what was wrong. Now Roger was the one being comforted and it finally hit home just how far he had fallen. He allowed himself to relax in Mark's hold. "I'm sorry." he choked out through his tears.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

The response was automatic. It was also a lie. This _was_ Roger's fault. He knew that now. "It is." Roger answered. "It _is_ my fault, and I'm so sorry Mark. I'm sorry that you have to watch me all time and that you can't have your own life."

Mark snorted. "What life?" he asked. "I wouldn't have anything if it wasn't for you Roger."

"You could have more if it wasn't for me and my stupidity." Roger reasoned. "Still, I don't want you to leave me. But I'd understand if you did."

"Don't be stupid." Mark said. "If I left who would look after you? Maureen can barely keep up with herself most days. And you, Roger Davis, are a handful." Mark smiled and squeezed Roger tighter. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

That made Roger stop crying. He pulled away from the skinny blond and looked into his bright blue eyes. "Promise?"

"If you promise to stop this jumping off of roofs business. Cause I don't know how much more of _that_ I can take." Mark said. "I-"

"Hate heights." Roger finished for him. "I'm sorry about that."

"Oh quit apologizing." Mark ordered. "You'll get better soon, and I won't have to chase you onto the roof anymore. Let's work toward that day."

Roger nodded and smiled, though his brilliant green eyes still glistened with tears. All earlier thoughts of Maureen's treachery and feeling sorry for himself were gone. "Yeah." he agreed. "Things'll be better then."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

_"Oh quit apologizing." Mark ordered. "You'll get better soon, and I won't have to chase you onto the roof anymore. Let's work toward that day."_

_Roger nodded and smiled, though his brilliant green eyes still glistened with tears. All earlier thoughts of Maureen's treachery and feeling sorry for himself were gone. "Yeah." he agreed. "Things'll be better then."_

Roger was right, things did get better, for the most part. He had fewer and fewer bad withdrawal days until there were none at all. He still refused to leave the loft, but at least there were no more violent suicide attempts. In the light of Roger's miraculous recovery, Maureen apologized to him for what she had said before and he accepted for Mark's sake.

Mark was very happy for these weeks. Maureen paid more attention to him, and Roger was no longer a danger to himself. So soon he could go out and not worry. It was on one of these such nights that Roger received a call from Benny.

He and Mark had adopted the habit of not answering the phone when they were both home. But when Roger was home alone Mark usually called to check in so he answered the phone then. It just so happened that he was home alone and trying to tune his guitar when the phone rang.

"I'm fine Mark." Roger said automatically when he answered it.

"Roger?" came a familiar voice on the other end. "Is that you?"

The rocker groaned. "Yeah Benny, it's me. What do you want?" It had been a long time since he had talked to or seen Benny. He didn't know that Mark had talked to him frequently when he was going through the worst of his withdrawal.

"I was actually calling for Mark but it's good to hear from you too man. I'm glad you're okay." Benny said. "I was worried about you for a while there."

"I'll just bet you were." Roger retorted sarcastically. "How's Muffy doing?"

"Who's Muffy?" Benny wanted to know.

"Oh that's the name Collins and Maureen came up with for your upper crust wife Alison. You like?"

"That's really nice." Benny said dryly. "Look can you just tell Mark that I took care of it and you guys are golden for a while?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Roger inquired.

"Ask him."

Roger rolled his eyes and hung up the phone, only to have it ring again. This time he decided he wasn't answering the phone. "Speeeeaaaaak!" went the answering machine.

"Hey there boho boys. It's your old buddy Collins the great. Just calling to make sure that there wasn't a recession or something and Roger's guts aren't decorating the street below the loft right now-"

"Gee Collins that's a lovely image." Roger responded when he picked up the phone. "My guts are in my body where they belong thank you very much. But I'm touched to see that you care."

"Touched in the head maybe." Collins retorted. "Damn it's good to hear your voice Davis. I knew you were going to pull through. You've got a fighter's spirit about you."

"Nah, it's Mark that's the fighter. Without him I'd be, well, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. But let's not talk about that. What's up with you?"

"Same old, same old." Collins replied. "Here working my black ass to the bone. Anything interesting going on over there?"

"Maybe." said Roger. He proceeded to tell Collins all about his suspicions about Maureen and the call he'd received from Benny. "Then he said that we were golden for a while because he'd taken care of something. When I asked what he was talking about, he told me to ask Mark." he finished.

"Well Benny's always up to something." Collins responded. "Talk to you later though Roger. I've got a couple of things in the works up here and I need to go tend to them."

"Would one of those things be a patch of illegal plants?" inquired Roger.

"And they say the pretty ones aren't bright."

Roger was in a good humor when Mark came back in looking happy as he always did when he got some good footage for the film he was trying to get going. Once he'd put his equipment away, Mark heard from Roger about the calls from Collins and Benny.

Mark's blue eyes widened. "Wow, I can't believe that Benny took care of it that quick. I wonder what he did."

Roger had just opened his mouth to ask what he meant, when the door was pushed open angrily and Maureen stormed in. "Do you know what that, that, sell out is doing now?" she demanded of them. "I mean it's just outrageous. It's unbelievable. I can't believe that someone would be so sneaky, so underhanded, so Agghh!" the diva screamed in frustration.

Mark looked alarmed. "What happened honey?" he ignored Roger's look of disgust at the pet name. "Who are you talking about?"

Maureen inhaled deeply to compose herself and pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "I am _talking_ about Benjamin Coffin III." she said. "And what's _happened _is that an agent for Grey Industries has purchased this building and the areas surrounding it. _Including,_" she said pointedly. "the lot that I use for my dramatic poetry exhibitions."

Mark's mouth hung open in amazement. "He didn't." he muttered under his breath.

"And do you know _why_?" Maureen asked. Roger and Mark shook their heads. "To build _this_!" the drama queen said and showed them the paper. On it was a picture of a large building and the words Cyber Arts.

"Okay one, what is that supposed to be, and two, what does Benny have to do with this?" Roger wanted to know.

"No one _knows_ what this is." Maureen responded. "It's a hidden, unknown, but _obviously_ well planned instrument of oppression! And it's all being constructed by the company owned by Benjamin's father in law."

"How does he know about this place?" asked Roger, still not catching on. "I mean it's not like he comes here, and I'm sure Benny doesn't talk about it. He was always ashamed to live here."

"He knows because Benny bought it." Mark clarified softly. "This building and all the other properties around it. Including the 11th street lot. I asked him if there was anything he could do to help us out. You know with the rent and everything since we have to spend so much on Roger's medicine and stuff. He said he'd handle it, but not how."

The room was silent as Maureen and Roger processed this information. Maureen recovered first. "There's only one thing to about this." she said. "I'll have to combat these forces of evil."

Roger shot a shrewd look at her. "With what exactly?"

"My words of course." she replied. "I'll just have to stage," she paused here for dramatic effect. "a protest. It'll take work, but with the right words I know I can spur our community to action. Mark, Pookie, you'll help me won't you? This will have to be big, I need lights and sounds. You're the only one who can do all that."

Mark reddened as Maureen wrapped her arms around him and began kissing his neck. Trying hard to ignore the look of revulsion on Roger's face, Mark gulped. "Sure Mo. Um, you can count on me."

"Oh I knew you would help!" Maureen screeched and began planning aloud. "We'll do it on Christmas Eve." she said. "Collins should be back by then." she went into the bathroom to take a shower, still muttering.

"You know you just sold your soul right?" remarked Roger. "You won't have any peace until New Year's at this rate, and it's barely October now."

"Don't remind me." Mark retorted and headed to bed.

Hours later Roger had gotten up to take his AZT when he heard Maureen leaving the loft. He looked at the clock with a frown and saw that it was after one in the morning. With a sigh, he went into Mark's room.

The small blond young man was sleeping peacefully, his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Mark had taken to wearing them to bed years ago, because of the time when he was sleeping over at Roger's house and the rocker had thought it would be funny to scare the crap out of him by waking him up violently and then sticking a particularly ugly stuffed animal into his face. Ever since then Mark preferred to see clearly in the mornings.

Now, Roger placed a hand gently on his friend's shoulder and shook him awake. "Wha?" Mark asked as he reluctantly awoke and sat up. "Whas goin on?

"Mark I need to talk to you about Maureen." said Roger.

"Could you not?" Mark groaned. "I'm already going to have to spend every waking moment with her now, and probably the non waking ones too. Can it wait, please? Because I can really use the sleep."

Roger felt guilty, knowing that he had been the cause of many sleepless nights for Mark in the past. "Yeah sure." he said. "I'll tell you later. Just go back to sleep."

Mark fell gratefully back against the pillows and resumed his slumber as Roger made his way back to his room, with dread and worry eating a hole in his stomach. He just knew that something wasn't right.


End file.
